With all the bad news regarding possible collusion between Russia and the Trump administration interfering with the 2016 election, it’s hard to understand how so many Democrats and Republicans alike, members of national voting organizations, etc., continue to deny we have a major problem with our national computerized voting system.

A recent piece in “The Nation” is a must read for non-believers. It’s short, well-researched and well-written, and will put to rest all the tired arguments of how we have the most secure and fair voting system in the world. It’s also an alarming wake-up call, along with many others, that we must address this problem ASAP. Sadly, this administration appears to be actively engaged in undermining and stone-walling all efforts for fair and transparent elections. The State Department’s refusal to use $80M earmarked to fight Russian propaganda, which was successfully weaponized against our country in the last election cycle, due to fear it will “anger” Moscow, has also angered some legislators in Washington. Whether they fulfill their duty to protect our country against a dangerous and dysfunctional administration currently under investigation is another matter.

In June of 2016, voter registration databases were successfully changed by hackers in California which led to the need to use provisional ballots in the primary elections. Three weeks afterward in Illinois, along with a similar attack in Arizona, a Russian agent accessed the state’s voter-registration site and uploaded malicious software (SQL) which “opened a back door to all 15 million files on past and current voters”. The hackers were successful in stealing 90,0000 files before an alarm was triggered when they attempted to download all 15 million files. Changes made to voter registrations were caught by the FBI as there was a full backup of the system before the SQL attack. These brazen attacks, among others, signaled that the Russians’ game plan had changed from collecting intelligence, as had been done in previous election cycles, to a “possible intent to meddle with the vote.”

As the administration worked to halt the damage, Trump continuously denied Moscow’s involvement with the hacking and blamed the Democratic National Committee (DNC) of hacking itself. With the stolen email dump prior to the DNC convention, he doubled down on the claims. As if on cue, August 1st, he said, “I’m afraid the election is going to be rigged.” Two days later, when the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, said he was considering declaring elections “part of the U.S. critical infrastructure, along with…the banking and electrical systems,” it was met with suspicion of partisanship by many of the states which seriously hampered the administration’s ability to respond to the attacks.

The continuous fueling of anti-government suspicion by Trump seemed to work in his favor as it made the President reticent to issue a stronger statement nationally as it would be portrayed as political meddling in favor of the Democratic candidate. President Obama did warn Putin and put into place a plan to counteract a full-out Russian attack on our election. In the meantime, the attacks continued with infiltration attempts into most states, including the electoral systems of Florida and New Mexico.

The election went off “free and fair from a cybersecurity perspective” according to officials, however, doubts about the security of our election system are spreading. The FBI’s counterintelligence probe about Russia aiding Trump’s campaign only began in earnest after the elections. The FBI’s preoccupation with Clinton’s emails prior to the election resulted in their Russian probe not getting “any intelligence legs until after the election,” a puzzling and disturbing blunder with questionable political overtones.

As the administration cozies up to Putin and the focus on methods of protecting our elections from Russian interference disappears, fears about fair elections are becoming widespread. With Trump’s creation of an “election-integrity commission” demanding the centralization of voters’ personal information from every state, many worry the true goal of the commission is voter suppression of Democratic voters. Republican efforts to defund the $8 million Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which guides states in conducting fair and safe elections, is being met with suspicion as well.

A recent Gallup poll found most Americans (70%) are not confident in the honesty of our electoral system. What a disaster for our democracy, especially since the current power structure seems to be quite happy with the situation and is tightening the noose on fair elections with additional questionable tactics. When finally no one has the confidence to show up to vote, they’ve won and we’ll have a permanent government in place, no voters necessary. A government of the oligarchs, by the oligarchs, for the oligarchs.

A deal with the devil? Trump to Putin, “It’s an honor to be with you.”

Happy Independence Day!!
As we celebrate our independence on this special day, it’s useful to remember some of the things that make our country so amazing. Tops among the many achievements we can be proud of is the right to vote in fair, free and transparent elections. The Three Wise Guys is broadcasting an interview today with Susan Pynchon, Executive Director of the Florida Fair Elections Coalition in DeLand. She has concerns, as many others do, that this bedrock of our democracy is endangered. Hope you can check out this most informative interview today @ 6:30 pm on WMFE 90.7 FM. And please view some of the links on their website if you haven’t done so already. They’re quite a revelation.http://twgradio.com/

As our country “erodes before our eyes”,Amy Siskind has been keeping a list of our country’s vanishing norms and long-cherished values these past five months under Trump’s “blitzkrieg” of our democracy. It records in black and white the frightening changes that have come about since the Russians’ cyber attack successfully installed their pick into the White House. It’s a lengthy itemization and an ugly thing to behold and will surely lead to more sleepless nights as concealed things are revealed. For example, one tidbit I hadn’t heard of:

So many of us, in an attempt to preserve our sanity, are averting our eyes to the carnage being carried out in Washington under this regime. Ms. Siskind deserves a medal for her arduous task of recording for history this revolting and illegal depravity being waged upon our country.

From the same producer of the “Hacking Democracy” film, Simon Ardizzone created the short film (above) “Protecting Democracy.” It shows glaringly some of the problems that continue to haunt voting in Florida and the hard work that Susan Pynchon, Executive Director of Florida Fair Elections Coalition, has done and continues to do to promote election integrity. She and Associate & Research Director Kitty Garber will conduct a panel discussion after the movie event on June 24th. The questions surrounding the 2016 elections, which are still being investigated by the federal government, have yet to be resolved. This short film generates even more questions and concerns.

The “fourth estate” is becoming an increasingly important resource for the protection of our democracy. By forsaking alt-facts and publishing the truth, even if leaked by career civil servants, the legitimate media organizations are fighting against the extensive dysfunction and rampant rot within our three branches of governmental “checks and balances.” Sadly, these checks are now proving useless in protecting our country against “enemies foreign and domestic” but, thankfully, we still have a free press that is proving resilient in combating this corrupt administration.

Regarding the upcoming “Hacking Democracy” movie event, Daily Kos had a write up about the movie recently with a link to viewing the movie for free on-line.

Please view it on-line if you can’t attend or view it at home and come to the event later for the panel discussion to ask questions (around 3:00 p.m.) If you can’t make it to the event, questions can be sent here or to email: cflgrassrootsprogressives@gmail.com or twitter account: @CenFLGrassroots and we’ll compile the questions/answers and publish the results from the panel. We’d like to start a seriously overdue dialogue about the state of our electoral system and this could be a good start.

Also, please sign up for email updates from CFL Grassroots Progressives as they continue to add to their site with useful information for resisting and winning.